Sarina Pani, a woman body builder from Odisha, recently won ‘The International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) Pro’ title for this year, held at the 2021 International Health, Sports and Fitness Festival (IHFF) in Mumbai.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for Sarina though. She was once a chubby and dusky girl who struggled with self-esteem issues throughout her childhood and adolescence. She initially started working at Infosys and was in the IT sector for around 6 years. After both Sarina and her husband suffered from a variety of health conditions, Sarina then realised the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Thereafter, there was no looking back. Sarina received Zumba certification and soon became a part-time licensed instructor. After juggling her round-the-clock job with Infosys and part-time Zumba, she decided to pursue her passion for fitness and became a full-time nutrition and training coach.
Sarina currently resides in Pune, and is a well-known nutritionist and a lifestyle coach. With her sheer determination and hard work, Sarina has also won the Fit Factor Female Fitness Model and Beach Body Female competitions in January 2021.
“Previously, I was working with Infosys. I was in the IT sector for 6.5 years. After sometime, there came a saturation point. My husband suffered from a medical condition where his artery was blocked. The doctors said that as we were working in IT sector, we had developed unhealthy lifestyle which had led to such health problems. The doctors advised us to improve our lifestyle. I anyways had interest in dance so I became a Zumba trainer after getting certification. For two years I worked at IT sector and taught Zumba simultaneously. So I thought to leave IT job and see how it turns out to be. After I quit the job I had plenty of time so I joined the gym. Initially I even faced difficulty in doing a single push up and I had joined gym for learning 4 pushups. From there my journey of body building started. I started body building from September 2020 and in 2021 I am a Pro card holder and a gold medalist in Amateur Olympia. I won the Fit Factor Female Fitness Model and Beach Body Female competitions in January 2021” said Sarina.
Video Editor: Surendra Pradhan
Producer: Diptyranjita Patra